Mcelwa Nchabeleng
Mcelwa Nchabeleng
Prisoners from across the country will have an opportunity to display their karate skills when they compete in a national karate tournament at Boksburg Prison in Ekurhuleni on October 4.
The tournament has been organised by Karate Organisation of South Africa Matsushima as part of its programme to rehabilitate prisoners.
It will be the first time that prisoners from across the country meet in such an event.
Last year the association held a grading session for prisoners from Gauteng prisons at the same venue.
They were graded by Shihan Peter "Poison" Thage, the association's chairman.
"We are now spreading our wings to cater for other prisoners from other prisons around the country," said Thage yesterday.
"I anticipate a tough tournament on the day and therefore we urge prison authorities to prepare their prisoners for this event.
"We are also going to include karateka who are not prisoners. This is to help those in jail to share the knowledge of the game and also make them feel part of society.
"I believe sport has a crucial role to play in rehabilitating the prisoners."
The tournament at the prison will be part of the agenda at the body's meeting at their Spruitview dojo on Sunday.
They will also plan for a tournament that will be held in the Vaal on August 30.
"We urge all our affiliates from Gauteng and North West to attend the meeting on Sunday, which will start at 11am.
"We are also going to have a postmortem of our senior tournament that was staged in Durban last month," added Thage.
A different jailhouse rock
Mcelwa Nchabeleng
Mcelwa Nchabeleng
Prisoners from across the country will have an opportunity to display their karate skills when they compete in a national karate tournament at Boksburg Prison in Ekurhuleni on October 4.
The tournament has been organised by Karate Organisation of South Africa Matsushima as part of its programme to rehabilitate prisoners.
It will be the first time that prisoners from across the country meet in such an event.
Last year the association held a grading session for prisoners from Gauteng prisons at the same venue.
They were graded by Shihan Peter "Poison" Thage, the association's chairman.
"We are now spreading our wings to cater for other prisoners from other prisons around the country," said Thage yesterday.
"I anticipate a tough tournament on the day and therefore we urge prison authorities to prepare their prisoners for this event.
"We are also going to include karateka who are not prisoners. This is to help those in jail to share the knowledge of the game and also make them feel part of society.
"I believe sport has a crucial role to play in rehabilitating the prisoners."
The tournament at the prison will be part of the agenda at the body's meeting at their Spruitview dojo on Sunday.
They will also plan for a tournament that will be held in the Vaal on August 30.
"We urge all our affiliates from Gauteng and North West to attend the meeting on Sunday, which will start at 11am.
"We are also going to have a postmortem of our senior tournament that was staged in Durban last month," added Thage.
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